'Powered by Bing': Yahoo transitions US search

Microsoft's Bing is now powering Yahoo search in the US and Canada, a year after the deal between the two companies was announced.

Microsoft and Yahoo started testing the systems last month, and yesterday those three magic words - 'Powered by Bing' - started appearing at the bottom of search results.

"The speed in which this was completed is a testament to the great work and partnership between a number of Yahoo and Microsoft employees, the ranks of which are numerous," said Shashi Seth, senior vice president of Yahoo search products.

Right now, Bing is only powering English language searches in the two countries, but other languages and regions will be included in the coming weeks and months, Satya Nadella, senior vice president for the online services division said.

Completing the transition - adding international and paid search - could take another year. While moving Yahoo to Bing for paid search could be completed as early as this fall, the companies say they may delay this until after the holiday season in an effort to make things easier for advertisers.

"So what’s next? We continue to work hard on the migration to AdCenter, and are optimistic about completing this phase later this fall," said Nadella.

"As we have said all along, our primary goal is to provide advertisers with a quality transition experience in 2010, while being mindful of the holiday season."

By using Bing, Yahoo hopes to be able to drag itself out of the doldrums, focus on other products and cut costs. For the time being it will continue to sell ads itself. Over the next five years, as the move to AdCenter is completed, Yahoo will get 88 percent of ad revenue.

Last month, ComScore reported that Google was, surprise, surprise, still dominating the US search market with 62.6 percent. Yahoo held 18.9 percent and Bing 12.7 percent, giving them a combined share of 31.6 percent.